Welcome To The Most Complete Grand Staircase National Monument Travel Guide

Distance: 5.4 miles (round trip)

Walking time: 3 hours

Elevations: 170 ft. gain/loss
     Calf Creek Trailhead (start): 5,340 ft.
     Lower Calf Creek Falls: 5,510 ft.

Trail: Popular, well maintained trail. A trail guide is usually available at the trailhead.

Season: Spring, summer, fall, winter. The trail is very hot in the summer, with temperatures often exceeding 100 degrees F. For current conditions call the Escalante Interagency Visitor Center at (801) 826-5499.

Vicinity: Near Escalante and Boulder

     The Calf Creek Trail is the highlight of Calf Creek Recreation Area, a delightful desert oasis maintained by the Bureau of Land Management. The canyon is a haven for birds, beaver, and other wildlife, and it was also once inhabited by the Fremont and Anasazi Indians. Take a booklet with you from the trailhead to help you spot some of the Indian pictographs and two granaries that were constructed by the Indians some 800-1000 years ago. Also, be sure to take a swimming suit with you for use in the pool at the bottom of Lower Calf Creek Falls.

     The Calf Creek Trail winds along the west side of Calf Creek, a small desert stream surrounded by vertical walls of white and pink Navajo Sandstone. Not surprisingly, much of the trail is covered with loose sand. As the cliffs erode, the ancient beds of sand from which the Navajo Sandstone was originally made are slowly being returned to the canyon floor. The dominant trees in the canyon are pinion and juniper, although cottonwoods and box elders can also be found along the stream. Many of the latter species show damage from beaver; you can scarcely walk a hundred yards along the stream without seeing a beaver dam.
     About 0.9 mile from the trailhead a small stone structure can be seen near the top of the cliffs across the river. This is the remains of a granary built by the Fremont or Anasazi Indians around 1100 A.D. to store the grain they grew on the canyon floor. Another half mile upstream, closer to the canyon floor, the Fremont Indians painted three large ceremonial human figures in red. The coloring of these pictographs is remarkably well preserved despite centuries of exposure to the sun and rain. Still more pictographs and another granary are visible in a small side canyon west of the creek about 1.6 miles from the trailhead.
     Finally, after 2.7 miles, Calf Creek Canyon abruptly dead ends against a 130-foot-high vertical wall of Navajo sandstone, making it obvious that the end of the hike has been reached. Here the creek emanates from the base of the Lower Calf Creek Waterfall. The setting is beautiful, with a sandy shore, large shade trees, and a clear pool below the fall. Most hikers take an hour out for a swim here before heading back.

Upper Calf Creek Falls
     Yes, there is also an Upper Calf Creek Falls, though it is not nearly as attractive as the lower falls and the hike to it not as interesting. Nevertheless, if you still have time and energy left after your hike to the lower falls you may want to continue your exploration by hiking to the upper falls.
     To reach Upper Calf Creek Falls you must return to Highway 12 and check your odometer at the entrance to Calf Creek Campground. From that point, drive north towards Boulder for 6.0 miles where you will see a rocky dirt road taking off on the left. Follow this road for a short distance to a wide, sandy clearing on the edge of the rim. The trail to Upper Calf Creek Falls drops off the rim near a large pinyon pine tree on the edge of the clearing. It is not a developed trail, but the BLM has placed rock cairns along the route to guide you to the falls. The upper falls are only about one mile from the highway, but they are 600 feet lower in elevation and the hike out can be tiring on a hot day.